Generally, a powder detergent has better washing effect in soft water than in hard water containing more magnesium and calcium ions, and by this reason, the powder detergent contains a hard-water softener, for example zeolite.
The conventional water softener, zeolite is insoluble in water, and after laundry, zeolite builds up in clothes and requires considerable time to bind ions, thereby retarding a softening effect, and thus the calcium ions remaining during laundry are bonded to carbonate ions that are ionized from an alkali builder to form calcium carbonate, which builds up in a washing tank of a washing machine, a heating coil and clothes. To overcome this problem, zeolite is used in the form of fine granules. However, the problem is not completely solved.